pdf - New Zealand Ecological Society

R.J. HARRIS 1,2 , H. MOLLER3,4 and J.A.V. TILLEY3
167
1
Zoology Department, University of Canterbury, Christchurch 1, New Zealand.
Present address: Plant Protection Group, MAF Tech, Ruakura Agricultural Centre, Private Bag, Hamilton, New Zealand.
3
DSIR Land Resources, Private Bag, Nelson, New Zealand.
4
Present address: Zoology Department, University of Otago, P.O. Box 56, Dunedin, New Zealand.
2
SHORT COMMUNICATION
WEATHER-RELATED DIFFERENCES IN ATTRACTIVENESS OF
PROTEIN FOODS TO VESPULA WASPS
Summary: Low acceptance of protein baits by common (Vespula vulgaris) and German (V. germanica) wasps
(Hymenoptera: Vespidae) occurred after rain in honeydew beech forest. This corresponded with a sharp decrease in
the proportion of natural protein in the diet of V. vulgaris and V. germanica, and a reduction in the concentration of
carbohydrate-rich honeydew in the crops of foraging wasps carrying liquid. The reduction of protein foraging most
likely results from a change in the efficiency of foraging wasps at gathering high energy foods such as honeydew
after rain, because rain reduces honeydew availability. Workers may therefore take longer to meet their own energy
requirements before they can forage for protein to feed developing larvae.
Key words: wasps; Vespula vulgaris; Vespula germanica; diet; rain; honeydew; carbohydrate; protein; poisoning.
Introduction
Poison baiting has been used to reduce local populations
of common (Vespula vulgaris (L.)) and German (V.
germanica (F.)) wasps from picnic, camping and
logging areas (Spurr, 1989; pers. comm.). However,
Thomas et al. (1989) were unable to eliminate sufficient
common wasps for long enough to complete an
experimental test of the impacts of wasps on insects and
birds. Their failure appeared to be due to low
acceptance of the protein baits. Spurr (1989; pers.
comm.) also described variation in bait take between
trials, and earlier poisoning protocols using fish baits
laced with Mirex poison (Perrott, 1975) had highly
variable success (Walton and Reid, 1976; Akre et al.,
1981).
In order to reduce such variation in bait acceptance
the mechanisms causing changes in wasp foraging
patterns need to be understood. This paper describes the
influence of recent rainfall on the number of common
wasps accumulating on protein baits in a honeydew
beech forest (Nothofagus spp.) in the South Island.
Honeydew consists of drops of sugary exudate that
accumulate on the ends of the anal filaments of native
scale insects (Ultracoelostoma assimile (M.); see
Crozier, 1981; Grant and Beggs, 1989; Morales, HilI
and Walker, 1988).
Interpretation of the bait acceptance data was
assisted by a subsidiary investigation into the influence
of rain on the type of natural food being transported to
wasp nests by foraging common and German wasps.
Methods
Study areas
Wasp baiting was conducted at Pelorus Bridge Scenic
Reserve, 25 km east of Nelson. Wasp forager loads
were studied at Spooners Scenic Reserve, 35 km
southwest of Nelson, and at Tiropahi, 28 km south of
Westport on the West Coast of the South Island.
Spooners is a patch of honeydew-infested beech
forest amidst pine plantation forest, and has been
described by Gaze and Clout (1983). The Pelorus
Bridge and Tiropahi sites are on the margins of much
more extensive honeydew beech forests, and have been
described by Sandlant and Moller (1989) and Harris,
Thomas and Moller (1991), respectively. The wasps at
Pelorus Bridge and Spooners were all V. vulgaris. V.
germanica and V. vulgaris colonies were located at
Tiropahi in 1989. In 1990, all of the 30 nests located in
the Tiropahi area belonged to V. vulgaris, and only
3.4% of workers collected while foraging were V.
germanica (Harris et al., 1991). Therefore, eight V.
germanica colonies were moved into the site to enable
species comparisons to be made (see Harris 1991, for
details).
Baiting
Five baiting trials were conducted at Pelorus Bridge
between January and April 1989. From 22 to 75 bait
stations made from 130 mm x 230 mm polystyrene trays
New Zealand Journal of Ecology (1991) 15(2): 167-170 © New Zealand Ecological Society
168
NEW ZEALAND JOURNAL OF ECOLOGY, VOL 15, NO.2, 1991
were placed on the ground, at 15-30 m intervals along a
transect through the forest. Each tray was baited with 30
g portions of cat food consisting of sardines in aspic
jelly ("Wonder cat" brand, packed by Pataya Food
Industries Ltd, Samutsakorn, Thailand). Bait stations
were revisited 1-7 times in the 4 hours after being
established. The number of wasps feeding on bait at the
moment of arrival at each bait station was recorded. If
wasps had removed all bait from a tray no counts were
made.
Marked wasp nests in the area were visited during
each bait trial and the number of wasps leaving each
colony in one minute counted. This "traffic rate"
provides an index of numbers of wasps flying in the
area during each trial (Malham et al. 1991).
Rainfall was recorded daily on open land 300 m
from the study site.
Wasp forager loads
In 1989, wasps returning to nests at Tiropahi and
Spooners were intercepted with an entrance trap (see
Harris, 1989), and any load being carried was removed
and identified (Harris, 1991). Prey foragers were
defined as those carrying an external load of animal
matter; wasps excluded from the forager category
carried wood pulp or had no external load. Samples
were collected on 23 days between 2 February and 7
May 1989. Sampling days were split into wet (n=10)
and dry (n=13) based on the presence or absence of rain
in the 24 hours prior to sampling.
At the Tiropahi site in 1990 individual foragers
were gassed with CO2, and had their crop contents
regurgitated by applying pressure, using forceps, to the
underside of the abdomen. If the wasp regurgitated any
liquid, it was collected in a 1 mm diameter capillary
tube, and its volume determined. The sugar
concentration of the liquid was determined with a hand
held refractometer (Grant and Beggs, 1989).
Carbohydrate foragers were classified as those wasps
with a crop containing a clear sugary liquid. Foragers
returning to common and German nests were
intercepted on five days between 20 March and 10 April
1990. A 2.5 - 3 hour period was spent sampling each
species on each day. Sampling days were split into wet
(n=2) and dry (n=3) based on the presence or absence of
rain in the 24 hours prior to sampling.
Results
Bait trials
Numbers of wasps per bait in the five trials ranged from
0.59 to 10.81 (Table 1). Despite such wide fluctuations
in the numbers of wasps at baits, traffic rates of wasps at
nests were very similar on all sampling days (Table 1).
The lowest daily mean number of wasps on baits (8
February) differed significantly from the next lowest
mean (13 March; t = 32.1, d.f. = 438, p < 0.001). The
February trial was conducted after 3 days of rainfall (95
mm in total) and we suggest that this influenced the
number of wasps on baits. However, it is clearly not the
only factor involved as almost 5-fold differences in
catches were recorded on the other days.
Differences in numbers of wasps per bait between
days did not result from differences in the numbers of
times each bait was visited because there was little
change (apart from initial build-up in numbers) in the
abundance of wasps while bait remained, and visits to
trays by observers were about equally spaced
throughout the 4 hour observational period after bait
was put out.
Wasp forager loads
The proportion of foragers carrying prey after wet and
dry days varied between species and site (Table 2).
However, at both sites wasps collected more prey after
fine weather than after wet weather.
No differences were found in the volume of crop
fluid carried by returning carbohydrate foragers between
wet and dry days, or between species (Table 3).
However, the concentration of sugar in crop fluid of
returning foragers was lower after wet days for both
species (Table 3). The decrease in concentration was
greater for V. vulgaris than for V. germanica.
Table 1. Numbers of wasps (mean ± 95% C.I.) on cat-food baits and numbers leaving wasp nests per minute at Pelorus Bridge.
Bait stations with all bait removed were excluded from the analysis. Rainfall in the three days before each bait trial is also shown.
Number
Number
Wasps
Number of
3-day
of bait
Wasps
of counts
per
nests
Rainfall
Date
stations
per bait
made
minute
counted
(mm)
75
10.81 ± 3.05
48
37±5.25
56
0
31 Jan 89
60
0.59 ± 0.19
261
24±5.25
45
95
8 Feb 89
60
5.93 ± 1.06
84
25 ±3.70
58
1
2 Mar 89
60
2.33 ± 0.47
179
32 ±5.02
42
0
13 Mar 89
22
6.44 ± 1.l8
140
23±4.19
40
1
10 Apr 89
HARRIS, MOLLER and TILLEY: WASPS AND RAIN
169
Table 2. The percentage of vespulid worker wasps returning to nests at Spooners Range Scenic Reserve and Tiropahi (from 23
sampling days between 2 February and 7 May 1989) which carried prey in wet (10 days) and dry weather (13 days). "Wet" days
were those in which some rain was recorded in the 24 hours prior to sampling. The number of wasps sampled is in parentheses.
Weather
Wet days
Dry days
All days
Comparison
Species difference at Tiropahi
WET
DRY
Site difference for V. vulgaris
WET
DRY
Weather difference
Spooners V. vulgaris
Tiropahi V. vulgaris
Tiropahi V.germanica
Spooners
V. vulgaris
2.59 (541)
18.46 (2172)
15.14 (2713)
X2
Percentage of wasps carrying prey
Tiropahi
V. vulgaris
V.germanica
5.26 (380)
1.81 (554)
14.91 (966)
24.95 (461)
11.33 (1346)
12.31 (10515)
d.f.
P
4.49
15.98
1
1
0.034
<0.001
8.67
34.15
1
1
0.003
<0.001
85.92
14.14
124.78
1
1
1
<0.001
<0.001
<0.001
Table 3. The volume and concentration of crop liquid in German and common wasps foraging for carbohydrate after wet and dry
weather at Tiropahi in 1990. ANOVAs were carried out on log-transformed data. Wet weather was defined as days in which any
rain fell in the 24 h prior to sampling. The number of wasps sampled is in parentheses.
Mean volume
Mean concentration
Species
Weather
± 95% C.I.
± 95% C.I.
(_l)
(g 100g-1)
V. germanica
Dry
14.8 ± 1.1 (61)
20.3 ± 1.1 (61)
Wet
16.7 ± 1.2 (43)
14.0 ± 1.1 (43)
V. vulgaris
Dry
14.7 ± 1.1 (55)
19.0 ± 1.1 (55)
Wet
14.7 ± 1.1 (55)
11.8 ± 1.1 (55)
ANOVA table for crop volume
Source of variation
d.f.
F-ratio
P
Species
1
1.00
0.3163
Weather
1
0.84
0.3585
Species X weather
1
0.78
0.3785
ANOVA table for concentration
Species
1
7.13
0.0076
Weather
1
95.78
<0.0001
Species X weather
1
1.41
0.2352
Discussion
After rain there is a dramatic drop in protein feeding by
wasps (Table 3), and consequently in their interest in
protein baits put out to poison them. The drop in protein
feeding is not simply a reduction in activity (traffic from
nests), as during bait trials activity remained similar
whether bait-take was low or high, and marked
reductions have only been recorded during very heavy
rain (Spradbery, 1973).
The main prey of wasps in honeydew beech forest
are spiders and insects (Harris, 1991). It is unlikely that
less invertebrate food was available after rain, causing a
reduction in protein brought to nests, because the
number of wasps on baits was lowest after rain at
Pelorus Bridge. The reverse would be predicted if
protein foods other than baits were hard to find. In
addition, fewer wasps are seen foraging for prey directly
after rain (pers. obs.).
Energy demands of a colony may be increased due
to rain, increasing carbohydrate foraging at the expense
of protein collection. Reductions in traffic rates (the
number of wasps entering and leaving a nest per unit
time) have been recorded in heavy rain (Spradbery,
1973), so this could be a contributing factor. Protein
foraging, however, remains depressed long after rain
has stopped and traffic rates have returned to normal
levels; therefore another factor is involved.
The principal reason for the reduction in protein
foraging appears to relate to the ability of foraging
170
NEW ZEALAND JOURNAL OF ECOLOGY, VOL 15, NO.2, 1991
wasps to gather high energy foods after rain. Honeydew
drops are diluted and washed onto the ground or tree
trunk by rain. This triggers a change from feeding
directly on honeydew drops to a lapping mode of
feeding (Moller and Tilley, 1989), and thus an increase
in time spent gathering honeydew at each tree (unpubl.
data). Our results show that while foragers returned
with the same volume of fluid, the sugar concentration,
and consequently energy content, of their load was
much reduced in wet compared with dry conditions.
This may result in the collection of high energy foods
like honeydew becoming an immediate priority for the
sustenance of the colony, rather than the collection of
protein, which is required for larval growth. Variation in
honeydew quality and concentration, along with
variation in wasp density may explain some of the
variation in bait acceptance on days when no rain was
recorded at Pelorus during baiting trials (Table 1). We
are now investigating the changes that occur in the
honeydew resource and the response of the wasps to
these changes.
Deployment of poison bait stations is expensive,
time-consuming and potentially dangerous to humans
and non-target animals. Fish and meat baits quickly
decay and lose their attractiveness to wasps once
exposed to air and sunlight (pers. obs.). Consequently,
baiting should be avoided altogether (in honeydew-rich
beech forests at least) until a small scale pre-poisoning
trial after rain shows a resurgence of interest in protein
foods by wasps. This will indicate the maximal level of
bait attractiveness that can be achieved at that site,
during that season, and so maximise chances of success.
Acknowledgements
Richard Harris was funded by a Conservation Sciences
Scholarship from the Department of Conservation. Kay
Fechney and Conservation Corps members John Davey,
Katrina Evans, Rick Fraser, Val Keen, Jason Malham
and Joanna Rees helped in the field. Karen Hiri helped
with data entry. Thanks to Mike Winterbourn and John
Parkes for comments. Jacqueline Beggs, John flux, Tony
Pritchard and Eric Spurr commented on earlier drafts of
reports on which this paper is based.
References
Akre, R.D.; Greene, A.; MacDonald, J.F.; Landolt, P.J.;
Davis, H.G. 1981. The yellow jackets of America
north of Mexico. Agriculture Handbook 552, U.S.
Department of Agriculture, U.S.A. 102 pp.
Crozier, L.R. 1981. Beech honeydew: forest produce.
New Zealand Journal of Forestry 26: 200-209.
Gaze, P.D.; Clout, M.N. 1983. Honeydew and its
importance to birds in beech forests of South
Island, New Zealand. New Zealand Journal of
Ecology 6: 33-37.
Grant, W.D.; Beggs, J.R. 1989. Carbohydrate analysis
of beech honeydew. New Zealand Journal of
Zoology 16: 283-238.
Harris, R.J. 1989. An entrance trap to sample foods of
social wasps (Hymenoptera: Vespidae). New
Zealand Journal of Zoology 16: 369-371.
Harris, R.J. 1991. Diet of the wasps Vespula vulgaris
and V. germanica in honeydew beech forest of the
South Island, New Zealand. New Zealand Journal
of Zoology 18: 159-169.
Harris, R.J.; Thomas, C.D.; Moller, H. 1991. The
influence of habitat use and foraging on the
replacement of one introduced wasp species by
another in New Zealand. Ecological Entomology
16: (in press).
Malham, J.P.; Rees, J.S.; Alspach, P.A.; Beggs, J.R.;
Moller, H. 1991. Traffic rate as an index of colony
size in Vespula wasps. New Zealand Journal of
Zoology 18: 105-109.
Moller, H.; Tilley, J.A.V. 1989. Beech honeydew:
seasonal variation and use by wasps, honey bees,
and other insects. New Zealand Journal of Zoology
16: 289-302.
Morales, C.F.; Hill, M.G.; Walker A.K. 1988. Life
history of the sooty beech scale (Ultracoelostoma
assimile) (Maskell), (Hemiptera: Margarodidae) in
New Zealand Nothofagus forests. New Zealand
Entomologist 11: 24-37.
Perrott, D.C.F. 1975. Factors affecting use of mirexpoisoned protein baits for control of European
wasp (Paravespula germanica) in New Zealand.
New Zealand Journal of Zoology 2: 491-508.
Sandlant, G.R.; Moller, H. 1989. Abundance of
common and German wasps (Hymenoptera:
Vespidae) in the honeydew beech forests of New
Zealand in 1987. New Zealand Journal of Zoology
16: 333-343.
Spradbery, J.P. 1973. Wasps: An account of the biology
and natural history of solitary and social wasps.
Sidgwick and Jackson, London, U.K. 408 pp.
Spurr, E.B. 1989 (unpublished). Wasp control by poison
baiting: experimental use of compound 1080.
Forest Research Institute Report to Department of
Conservation, Christchurch, New Zealand. 12 pp.
Thomas, C.D.; Moller, H.; Toft, R.J.; Tilley, J.A.V.;
Plunkett, G.M.; Harris, R. 1989. Impact of Vespula
wasps on native insects and birds: Second year
research report. DSIR Ecology Division Report
No. 25, Nelson, New Zealand. 44 pp.
Walton, G.M.; Reid, G.M. 1976. The 1975 New
Zealand European wasp survey. New Zealand
Beekeeper 38: 26-30.